Spain arrests convicted pedophile freed by Morocco

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police on Monday arrested a Spaniard convicted in Morocco of raping 11 children after Morocco's king rescinded his pardon of the man.

Daniel Galvan Vina was among 48 Spanish prisoners in Morocco who were pardoned and freed in late July. His release fueled rare protests in the North African country as officials investigated whether a bureaucratic mix-up had led to dozens of prisoners being incorrectly pardoned by the king.

A spokesman for Spain's Interior Ministry said Galvan was arrested in the southeastern city of Murcia and will be brought before the National Court in Madrid. He is being held on an international arrest warrant issued by Morocco through Interpol.

Another Spanish official said Galvan was on a list of 30 Spanish prisoners in Morocco that Madrid had asked to be sent home to serve out their sentences. Madrid also sent a separate list of 18 people it wanted pardoned, the official said. In late July, the king pardoned 48 Spaniards, including Galvan, who made it back to Spain.

The actions raised the possibility that Moroccan officials had misread the list of proposed transfers as proposed pardons.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because government regulations do not allow them to speak on the record.

News that Galvan was among the pardoned spurred unusual protests against King Mohammed VI in Morocco, with police clashing with protesters late Friday. Over the weekend the king retracted the pardon and called for an investigation into what had happened.

The royal office, in a statement carried by the Moroccan state news agency on Monday, said an inquiry concluded Galvan's release was due to failures in the prison administration and that its director, Hafid Benhachem, had been fired.